The defense and the prosecution today made their closing statements in the New York criminal case against Trump for falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.
I agree 100%, they have no standing to say anything.
I get Trump's daily emails (about 6 or 7 asking for money.) Trump is running really, really scared. I think that it is largely because he knows that he's guilty and that the jury knows it, too. This is part of the latest TFFG's email:
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! >
I CAN’T GO TO BED UNTIL I HEAR FROM YOU!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE respond before midnight!
NOW is the time to help me SAVE AMERICA >
After the raids, indictments, and arrests: DO I HAVE YOUR SUPPORT? >
Makes you wonder about the American Dream if many citizens send money to a lying, thrice married, serial philanderer and think this person will help them out.
Swbv, they see in TFFG much of themselves: racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic. In other words, the KKK, 21st century version, now known as MAGA.
It worries me that labeling other human beings as rubble (i.e. trash, garbage) Is just a more sophisticated expression of hatred and fear of "the other" that resides in our reptilian brain and was once responsible for survival of the species. Of course we need to keep safe boundaries, self, family, country, and I am not suggesting we condone individual or group acts of violence or other crimes. But if we want any hope of a more peaceful nation, we need to incorporate some measure of understanding and care for those whom we find easy to lump all together into one object of our hatred.
I think it's important not to lump "they" all in one group. Hilary's second half of the statement captures why Trump was able to con so many decent people: “people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.”
What we are learning is that many of these folks simply do not know all the ramifications of his blustering because they are not following the same news sources we are. "Reporting" from Fox, Newsmax etc just makes them feel that somebody does get them, which makes it easy for them to be in denial about all the bad stuff.
I think many of us in this community, if we look carefully at our own lives, can find places where we are in denial about something that isn't good for us. Maybe it's just that the more educated we are, the more ways we have to justify things such as self-starvation to stay ultra thin, working long hours that deprive our families of our presence (I'm not talking about needing two jobs just to pay the rent and buy food), drinking enough alcohol to numb out at the end of the day.
“people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.”
Since grade B actor Reagan proclaimed in 1980 that government is the problem, the gop at the state and federal level have striven to make his claim true; by underfunding vital social support programs, underfunding public education; by privatizing Medicare programs; by eviserating anti trust and anti monopoly regulations which minimize market place completion needed to prevent price gouging; and created voucher programs in violation of the ‘separation of church and state’ concept fundamental to the founding of our nation!
They are separate for change but the less fortunate’s vision for change is radically different from the libertarian policies implemented by maga politicians!
Chaplain, the bottom line, IMO, is that G. W. Bush was right when at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on 3-31-2001 he said: "you can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Thomas Frank explained how the wealthy get common white folks to vote Republican by using wedge issues: abortion, women's rights, gay rights, immigration, etc. The first 30 pages of HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War" is worth the read. It's a problem that has been with us since 1619.
Normally, I never lump a group of people as all the same. However, MAGAs continue to support death star and his minions and there is nothing decent about any of it or them when they accept the criminal activity and all the rest of it. Death star does not have one redeeming human virtue, none, period. We were just out and about today and passed one place that had all sorts of military looking vehicles with camo and lots of flags. I'm sorry, but I know exactly what this person is and is saying. As for myself, I am human, so I make mistakes, but I do not do any of the things you mentioned. Btw, I have spent the last two weeks defending good people of faith and the idea of prayer as a way of helping people feel supported. So far I have blocked two people, been treated to lots of f bombs, suffered too clever by half mansplaining, and all the while, nearly every one of them have assumed that i am some kind of religious fundamentalist.
TFG only represents what his supporters are all about, i.e. anti everything. They would support a zombie who was against the rights of all minorities, women, the government, and immigrants. That is why they support the like of a tRump. And that is why he can say and do ANYTHING and they would support him.
In my frustration with the confounding support the decaying tfg continues to get, I've been saying that if the gop thought charles manson was their best hope for the presidency, they'd dig him up and run him. Absurd is no longer absurd.
True, Jeri, it is absolutely pathetic, but we can't miss our chance to crush them at the polls in November and after that, hopefully, take back our country and begin a new "New Deal" that will benefit the vast majority of Americans instead of the oligarchs. HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War," and Barbara McQuade's book, "Attack from Within," explain what is happening here. We need to organize and defeat these forces that have been here since the founding of the nation.
Yeh.. get rid of this Bloviating Bestial Banal-Brained Bulging Booger-Bag of Bulimic-Bullshidt and Beastial Beseechment. Be Gone doosh! Go live in one of those 105 mile long skyscrapers the Saudis' are building... if you can afford it. Load your family into that 757, no Pre-Chek needed.., just Be Gone!
Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow at the Apollo 2 nights ago on MSNBC 1.5 hr (without ads as i taped it) conversation was such good history and right up to today about how to save our Democratic republic was fabulous! The best thing and case made that I've seen on TV about this election. VOTE in huge numbers!
I've watched what was happening since Is was 21 years old. Just didn't know a lot of background. The more I learn, the less surprising today's events are. But no excuse, fight on, and on, and on
And I might add - would have been one of the finest presidents this country would have ever had. Nothing short of a political tragedy on so many levels.
I think that is one of the reasons that his campaign is inflating his rally sizes, and even pushing such ridiculous stuff as Trump got an "enthusiastic" reception at the Libertarian convention. He sure did--if constant booing which got him off the stage in a half hour is enthusiasm!
Of course, FOX, Newsmax and OAN is not going to report the news. I get upset with traditional media giving Trump all this free publicity (that helped him get elected in 2016!!) This is one reason I'm posting on here all the time: check out the YouTube channels of Brian Tyler Cohen, Glenn Kirshner, Marc Ellis, and any on the Meidas Touch network of youtube. Every time you subscribe, watch, and ESPECIALLY hit the "like" button (do it immediately when you log on) you push these up in the computer algorithms.
Not everyone can knock on doors, or can tolerate making phone calls, or have the funds to donate to campaigns. Clicking on the Youtube channels is easy. Sending links to friends or posting on you social media is also easy. Writing letters and postcards to voters is easy--albeit you have to self fund. (Some sites offer free postcards and even kits to cover expenses if you contact them.)
I signed up to make a monthly donation to the Biden campaign and to Sherrod Brown’s senatorial campaign in OH. He’s running a very tight race and it could flip the senate to the R’s. The Ohio State legislature is working to keep Biden off of the ballot in Nov, if you can even believe that.
Elizabeth, I understand your bewilderment. My Ph.D. is in Chinese history. Hsun Tzu, a famous Chinese general is said to have said about 250 B.C.: "Know your enemy and in 100 battles you will win 100 victories." I see it as research.
Richard, good for you. We have a friend who listens to what she calls enemy radio and goes to enemy events. She is very knowledgeable in terms of what's up locally. I have been to events where the enemy came to ours also.
No, Mr. Kravetz, he will not. This is New York. Very different from someplace in Idaho. New Yorkers hate trump. I've spoken with quite a few New Yorkers, and what they hate is that when people speak of the Orange Turd, they say things like, "Well, yeah, but he's from New York." They HATE that they're equated with the likes of him. I believe we'll have a verdict no later than Friday. Then, we wait to see just how badly the Turd has pissed off Judge Merchan. THIS is the beginning of the end, but we still have a lot of work to do.
I do not think that Judge Merchan will use the insults from TFFG, his lawyer OR the defense's only witness to decide a sentence. He's not that "small". In this instructions to the jury, he warns about personal opinions that have nothing to do with the evidence.
Harvey, I share your concern, but a hung jury is not an acquittal. TFFG could be tried again. As time progresses, TFFG becomes more desperate. All of the people around TFFG are paying a huge price for helping him. Cohen, Giuliani and now Jenna Ellis, suspended from law practice for three years in Colorado. I grieve for her, so young and so misinformed.
Sarcasm, perhaps? You grieve for an experienced lawyer who—as part of a sustained thought process—chose to betray the oath that is at the center of her profession? If an equally young banker decided to go home with a bag of twenties, would you ever expect her to work as a banker again when caught?
Tom, you have an excellent point. I suppose that it's my old age the grieves at how a young lady could ruin her life for such a worthless person. There is no joy to be taken from the outcome.
There is almost no chance for an acquittal. But there is always a chance for a hung jury—even a single juror can accomplish that. A hung jury is a mistrial, which means he can be tried again, if NYC wants to try again.
I would be astonished if Trump was foolish enough to bribe or threaten a juror. Or if any of his lawyers would cross that line. That is a serious felony that NYC would happily prosecute.
Trump would bribe or threaten a juror in a New York minute if he could figure out how to do it. He is "foolish" enough to have done zillions of illegal and corrupt things.
I think he and they do not have the necessary info to identify and find any of the jurors, which you have to do if you're going to threaten or bribe them. That's the sole reason he's not acting like he has some ace in the hole, like a friendly or "owned" juror. He's not winking at anyone in the jury box. Of all the jury reports I've read, I haven't seen any comment about any juror acting in any way that would suggest being on Trumps side. They seem to be uniformly attentive, in a totally appropriate way. No boredom, eye rolling, frowns when others are smiling, etc. I'm cautiously, very cautiously, hopeful that there's no juror there who will hold out no matter what.
Judge Merchan has certainly held their butts to the fire, IMHO. To me, he has applied corporal punishment to their baby-skinned bottoms. Parents today might do well to take a lesson here and apply it to their little crumb-muffins when their hummingbird mouths overload their little rhinoceros backsides. Maybe I should have just said 'obese backsides'.... No?
I made the mistake of equating a hung jurt with an acquittal. My bad. That being the case the evidence is black and white. There is really no defense against the overwhelming evidence. Hard as the defense has tried they have made no convincing argument. And they pulled a Hail Mary telling the jury to consider that a conf=viction would put a former president in prison was against trial rules they knew it but wanted to plant it in the juries minds. The judge admonished the defense for breaking the rule and told the jury that the comment was to be ignored and not be considered, guilty or not is their job and sentencing was the judge’s.
I have wondered about how the jury is protected. Were they told to not reveal their jury duty on this case to any friend because that person might inform who they were and where they live? I believe their lives are in danger, not necessarily from tffg, but from one of his devotees.......
hahahaa.. Judith, here's my put: They're New Yorkers... F--- with them at your own risk. Ever driven the 'cross-Bronx Expressway' ? You better deal with it.
C'mon Tom.. you know the "turds" don't play by 'our' rules, so the burden will fall, once again, on 'us' to PROVE "that line" was crossed. Bingo.. back to square one. The trip to "square one" is a trip frought with all the legal delays attornys$$$$ can file for, while they delay rhe trip to the toilet. Big Media wins, taxpayers lose some more. Haven't we just witnessed this trick in Manhattan? Sorreeee.
I would love it if they came back today because that mean be a guilty verdict. However, if they have to deliberate for days and days, he still has to sit there, or be close enough which means no campaigning to the deplorables. NYC is not where his cult members live.
If there is one deplorable on the jury, then they can just start another go round. More time for tffg to sit there. He would have to find a new lawyer because this one is C R A P.
This is classic Strongman talk, according to the description laid out in Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen. They have to create a crisis that only they can rescue everyone from and suspend rights to protect everyone as they fight against an othered enemy which once quelled will make everything great again. He is a Hitler wannabe, and his followers may make him into a Hitler with Nukes.
Linda, thank you for this. So what you're saying is that our own resident malignant narcissist is not necessarily a case of first impression in the world? How did we ever grow such a misfit?
Everyone grows them. We need to recognize that we have him, and then look at what it will take to diffuse his momentum and his right-wing populist movement.
I suppose it is time to pull out Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements." Germany had its Hitler and Jews were the bogeyman; here now we have Trump and minorities, Jews, [the marchers at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting, "Jews will not replace us," i.e., Klan talk, immigrants, women's rights advocates and gay rights advocates are the bogeyman. And then I think of the refrain from "South Pacific:" "You've got to be carefully taught."
QUEENS, NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In what has become a Memorial Day tradition for him, on Monday Donald J. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Podiatrist.
Trump made his annual pilgrimage to pay homage to the heroic doctors who issued bogus diagnoses to ensure that their privileged patients never answered the call of duty.
In an emotional tribute, Trump thanked the fallen foot specialists who bravely risked their medical licenses so that others facing military service could be free.
Choking back tears, he said, “They gave everything so people like me could give nothing.”
Jon Margolis, please... join me. Send that Turd a bar of Dove soap (it's easy to hold), address it to him.., Rikers Island Correctional Facility, 1500 Hazen St, East Elmhurst, NY 11370. The orange Turd is goona need it when he bends over in the showers... So I've been told.
I used to get him on facebook but I'm off facebook now. (WASTE OF TIME!) I just subscribed to his substack. It's smart that he can now reap in dollars.....I will probably start paying later.
My policy from years raising a family on a tight budget was free, free, free. I was frugal, and frankly, sometimes: cheap. Now at 85, I have a quite nice portfolio and need to distribute to causes I believe in or that amuse me. The latter might be a token $9.99. Heather has more money than she ever imagined. But, to comment, we pay. She am sure she "distributes"........... I won't have to comment on Borowitz Report....unless, I come up with something I think is brilliantly funny.........
Swbv, when exactly has death star, in particular, actually shut up. I also note his sons can't either. And they always choose to say something totally awful and tone deaf.
Can you imagine, if even for a moment, what it must have been like to grow up in a household where TFG sat at the head of table and shared his valuable life lessons? When I look at and hear DJT Jr. and Eric, I think malevolence, hubris, and lying are the fruits of that poisoned tree.
Carol, you are so right! The future is “a democracy, if we can keep it”. With laws being proposed (and passed) to disenfranchise infrequent voters, we need to reach out to friends who have been infrequent voters to check their registration and, if necessary, update it ahead of November. Pick 5 friends to check up on and encourage to vote this November. Suggest that they each pick five friends to champion. We can save this democracy, one at a time.
YES! I call this the ripple effect. I have written about it before. I sent out 20 letters to 20 friends and encouraged each of them to do the same. Right now I am writing 100 postcards to swing state infrequent voters. You can do the same. Look up Postcards to Swing States. It has been shown that there is a voter increase of 2% from this effort. That can be a election changer.
Jennifer, I would be taken aback by the idea that someone that I didn’t know might be checking up to see if I voted. Saying that the postcards are not connected to a political party wouldn’t allay any fears of that.
Quite a contrast indeed between honoring those that sacrificed their lives to defend the Constitution and railing against those whose task it is to establish Justice, t(he 2nd aspiration in the Preamble) It's illegal to defame and payoff someone with before tax money, to silence them and cover up the truth about a candidate for President.
Joe Biden’s Memorial Day message made a difference to all who gave “the last full measure “ of devotion to these United States. A solemn and moving reminder of who we are, and why.
"Money, if you'll pardon the expression, is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow" ~Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly
I don't know how many times I heard "money doesn't change anything" when talking to my white privileged colleagues about the success of programs like headstart. My retort was....it's made a difference even with our little, half assed investment into the program ...imagine what it would do if we invested fully into the programs. Headstart works, pre-kindergarten works....investment in education always works. Money makes a difference!
Bravo Melinda Gates....if only her X would be as generous.
As a native Texan, I am very familiar with this observation made by Clint Murchison, Sr. many decades ago: "Money is like manure. If you spread it around, it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up in one place, it stinks like hell."
This is soooo true and is part of the problem in the U.S. today - too much wealth has been concentrated in the hands of the few.
It is unfortunate that Elon Musk never got married in order to divide his wealth in half so that the better half would do some good with it! Rather than abandoning affordable EVs in favor of chasing AI. Elon just isn't interested in leading the EV revolution anymore unless he can get from being worth 1-2 hundred billion dollars to $1 trillion. Tesla needs to dump him and let him start up a new company, competing with all of the AI others, and see how well he does then.
In other news, Microsoft under Bill Gates engaged in monopolistic practices. Even worse under Steve Balmer, who famously threw chairs at employees when he was not getting his way.
I'm still amazed, but current CEO and Chairman of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, is only worth $300 million, and has led Microsoft in a better direction. I've been forced from Linux onto Windows at work, but now I can run Linux on top of Windows via Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux. No duel booting required anymore!
Elon Musk accused Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, of destroying Western civilization with her philanthropy. Then she quietly doubled her donations.
Fabulous!! Thank you for this bit of excellent news. Musk is a scumbag - how did he go from being a cool, interesting guy into .... what he is now? "destroying Western civilization" i'faith!
Has anyone seen the World's Ugliest four-wheeled vehicle? I finally saw one today here in El Lay, the crazy car capitol of the world. Uuuggggggleeeeeeeeeeee!!! Think "Rejected by Furiosa." Elmo has his taste where most right wing scum generally have it. Up his ass.
I saw my first one "on the hoof" last March coming home from Portland. It was a rainy Oregon day, and the "vehicle" was already starting to rust. Upon my initial assessment, I believe that the "bed" of that "pickup" has less payload capability than a standard four door Prius with the back seats folded down. Earlier this month I saw a fully loaded car carrier with them on it; they are no more visually appealing when brand new. In conversation with my niece and her fiance, they said they had seen/heard of several traffic crashes involving those "vehicles" where the (unfinished and unprotected) steel had sliced through other vehicles.
There is nothing attractive or safe about those vehicles. Steel plates over plastic.
I saw one last week. It’s the oddest looking thing! What I haven’t seen is one pulling anything - and isn’t that what trucks are for? Not being (pardon me) phallic symbols? I guess the rockets weren’t phallic enough for him.
We have seen several here in the Irvine-Tustin area. Truly the ugliest, funniest looking “trucks” ever seen outside of cartoons. The only possible reason to have one is to let others know you can afford it.
Yes! One was parked opposite our Temporary Home recently. This lane is all funky little Victorian/Edwardian houses & cottages, and seeing it here caused cognitive dissonance! YUK
Not getting married hasn't stopped him from breeding like a rabbit, but he's stingy with the money, having no assured financial commitment to the children. Musk scares me. His ideas are radically changing this world (for better or worse) but they have also concentrated considerable capability into his unfettered hands. For example, he has changed the night sky around the planet, provided internet in all the far flung places, but then also shut off the internet to prevent a devastating attack on Russia by the Ukrainians. Now he's fiddling in AI and implanting things in people's brains, which could be good or bad, depending upon which side of the bed he awakens. This man has built himself a hand of God and it scares the piss out of me. We are dependent upon his good will and intentions.
Yes, several people seem to believe that. Maybe because it's hard to imagine women would actually marry him? He appears to like getting married (staying married is another issue) but I'd be shocked if he doesn't have an ironclad prenup in place after his first marriage, if not before. He's always been wealthy.
This is more than a bit silly. WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) gives you access to all of the greatness of Linux, minus the stability because Windows is still running the whole show.
Just this morning, it took me 20 minutes to log on. That is no joke!
"The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade"
"[Leonard] Leo, the force behind this network, arrived at the Mayflower after spending the day at Trump Tower in New York. He met with the president-elect and his top aides about turning the list of Supreme Court justice candidates that Leo curated into legal reality. Republicans in the Senate had taken a risk by refusing to hold hearings to fill the seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia toward the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. Now, with Trump positioned to nominate one of its own, Leo’s movement stood on the verge of an enormous triumph, with a court that would once again be dominated by Republican-appointed justices — and those who were firmly on the side of restricting abortion. Trump confirmed in the meeting that if someone was not on the list, that person would not be considered."
Melinda Gates has long supported the underprivileged and the persecuted. She was already a great philanthropist. Thank you Ms. Gates for your commitment to helping those in need.
On a more sour note, have any of you been receiving myriad calls from PACS wanted your donations? They are all representing seemingly benign groups like firefighters, breast cancer and children. I have never given to a PAC even when forced to when I worked for a small insurance company in Illinois. Ultimately, my boss who was told by the owners they wanted 100% participation pitched in a contribution for me.
Anyway, these groups appear to be fronts for the MAGAs. They tell you they give money to politicians to advance their cause, but when asked if they give to Republicans either they don't answer, they tell you they are not political or they offer to put you on the DNC list. And then after they tell you they will put you on the DNC list, they call 20 more times.
I reposted Melinda Gates' post on Facebook about funding women around the world and here in the USA. A second later, Facebook deleted the shared repost claiming they "suspected scam" and that it "violated their rules" and that my account would be locked down if I continued. Evidence of Zuckerberg's foot on the media scale.
I simply shared Melinda Gates's Facebook post with one line saying how I always invest in women because women invest in family and community. I WAS able to post a second article that I copied from the New York Times editorial, but then I wanted to share her Facebook post for people to read in its entirety without the paywall.
But the NYT used the word ‘stunt’ to describe DeNiro’s speech. Gonna write to them. Outrageous.
Can’t find it now. Either they took it down, edited it, or I was mistaken. I hope I was mistaken, but was so shocked when I read it, I kind of doubt it. The other articles printed later are better.
Of course the DT all caps seem to be news. A real question whether reprinting that is awareness building or just ‘all exposure is good’ for him. His photo is so ubiquitous, it’s painful.
What did they say about the Trumpettes in their blue suits and red ties? More and more over the years, the coverage of DJT et al. by the NYT has become less and less informative. Are they covering their behinds should he be re-elected?
I’m thinking to stay a subscriber and write. Maybe some of you who write brilliantly could do an op ed piece?
Just tried to find it again and either I was mistaken ( I was stunned by the use of that word, but also by the word ‘troll’ for trolling Dt) or they have taken it down or edited. So I can’t find the byline. Other articles they’ve printed are better. Thank goodness. I hope I was mistaken!!
If I could read Paul Krugman, Maggie Haberman and a couple of others, I would drop it, but I trust his economic analysis of the US and International economies more than anyone else alive today. (John Kenneth Galbraith will always be my favorite).
The NYT is so thoroughly in the tank for the Yam, it's a disgrace to the paper they once were. The paper that published the Pentagon Papers and broke government scandal after government scandal and risked the wrath of Republican presidents has tarnished its reputation because A. G. Sulzberger has his panties in a twist.
Why? Because OHJB refuses to give him a sit-down interview. Sulzberger seems to feel he's owed this by some Divine Right (or other). He's a pissant, barely 44 years old, who thinks he's due the respect of his father, grandfather and so on, when he's done nothing to earn it. He's steering the venerable NYT onto the rocks.
And I say this as a very long-term subscriber, from the 70s on. My beloved NYT is nearly unrecognizable now.
Every week there are at least three top news stories about American/Washington politics in the Guardian that either scoop the NYT or that NYT doesn't even bother to run prominently or run at all. The top British political reporting is still covering actual politics. NYT has decided American politics is all about the clicks - ie, revenue, and Trump stories get the clicks. Earlier this week the top three stories in NYT online morning edition were all Trump. If Trump were paying NYT for preferential coverage it wouldn't look any different than it does. NYT still does good journalism on features and some investigative reporting, but its election coverage has descended into political bias. It's infuriating given that nothing less than American democracy is at stake but it's also very sad.
"Inheritance is welfare for the rich." Warren Buffett....
Speaking of Warren, his late wife Susan Buffett was one of the great philanthropists. Her and Bono were friends and accomplished many things together. She was a big supporter of education and assisted many underfunded schools.
I think that the interview thing is probably overblown. The NYT and WaPo seemed to flag with investigative journalism since Pentagon Papers and Woodward-Bernstein days. Seems like most of the mainstream news is at least partially inbedded for a long time.
I am a semi-regular reader of Hartman, but had not seen this. You cannot do democracy without a well informed electorate. It just won't work, and we need to change it.
"When large numbers of the people of any nation believe things that are objectively untrue, it’s a huge warning sign that something is awry with that nation’s media." Thom Hartman
I still think that MAGATs are visceral, and the lumpen proletariat is same as it ever was...lumpen: of or relating to dispossessed and uprooted individuals cut off from the economic and social class with which they might normally be identified.
All that stuff about what the public "thinks" is based on polling that is suspicious.
Ask the unwashed whether they want a fascist government?
Hey, Barbara. This substack piece from The Big Picture says "It's all about the vibes." In other words, facts don't matter if people just aren't "feeling it."
Barbara Keating, I used your link and read this piece. I'm thankful for reading it in the light of day because it's a nightmare scenario. Immediately subscribed to The Hartmann Report. Thanks for sharing.
I agree. I just wrote someone else that I am reading my online sub less and less - and that I know I need to cancel after all these years.... Not as long as you tho!
Sulzberger family DNA failure A.G. Sulzberger - born on third base and convinced he hit a triple - has ordered his crew of over-paid, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable trust fund babies at the world's finest fishwrap to not say anything positive about the Biden campaign until Joe comes and gives the inbred drooler the "exclusive interview" he's entitled to.
TC. Don't get me started on Trustifarians. So many have inherited hundreds of millions and do everything they can to avoid paying taxes. We are all aware of the worst offenders on the list. Of course, many of them have used their inheritance to help others, but others --not so much.
Deirdre--please write to the editors of The NY Times. I was pissed off at the media's incessant use of the word chaotic to describe the withdrawal from Afghanistan. So I wrote the editor of the NYTimes and told them it was "lazy journalism". I have kept an out out for the word "chaotic" and haven't seen them use it since although it's likely some of their journalists are still using it.
As much as I comment on the 1%ers and their anti-democracy doings, I want to point out Bill and Melinda Gates as an exception. Bill has made some mistakes, but he and Melinda have tried to give away all but 5% of their fortune, as he promised decades ago, to causes that better the world. I thank them. It is so good to think about people with a soul for a change.
Some years ago Warren Buffet and Bill Gates' father were publicly championing raising taxes on the very wealth, with little effect. So far as I know, Bill Gates is not sending massive donations to right wing organizations.
Yes. Buffet has committed the eventual philanthropic use of most of his wealth, but he hasn’t chosen specific projects (world health, especially, plus sustainable energy and other issues) and directed the effective use of those funds in a hands-on way like Gates has. Gates has been seriously involved in the work he is funding.
Giving money away is a very difficult job, if you want to have your money create positive outcomes. Warren Buffet gave $40B to Bill Gates to decide where to place the money. The are indeed kindred spirits.
Thank you, Professor. How can anybody in their right mind even think about bringing that back into office. I couldn’t imagine what he would say at West Point. Of course I don’t think he would ever be invited. Please everybody share this. It’s so darn obvious that this man is evil, he cares not about the country. He wants power and he wants retribution. It’s a sick disease. Bote Blue all down the line. Again, the man is evil.
Donald Trump. Clarence Thomas. Samuel Alito. Mike Johnson.
All have contempt for our laws – all instead for billionaires’ conceits.
Trump lied on campaign finance records because he knew, after the Access Hollywood tapes, voters would be disgusted at his larger sexual predations.
Justices on the Clarence court lied as to their ongoing bribery, they above our laws as if entitled to their own sugar daddy billionaires.
Speaker of the House Johnson lies by pious treacle gilding further lies for criminals like Trump.
They could have respected our laws. Could have loved how our laws long enshrined our own personal decisions, including for family and health. But jackass “higher calling” put packaged theocracy above us and our laws. Entitlements for themselves say eff-you to our Constitution and its 14th amendment, which should protect us from even the most lying rogue rich.
What do our ogres share with Dems who went to parallel schools that for decades have also put something else unto us? Sets of abstractions instead: Poll numbers. Wall Street numbers. Dark money. University student loan succubi. Billionaire social media algorithms. Standardized testing so schools can never teach to anything but the test.
Our billionaires and their swine live totally in, for, and by abstractions. No novels, memoirs, films, histories, or music any more than can any animals.
Ultra wealthy plutocrats have supported government of the people, by the wealthy, for the wealthy, for eons. Back in the 1950s, Eisenhower disapproved of "Texas oil millionaires" that were keen to eliminate social security and other public services for less pecunious citizens. For some, too much is never enough.
You note "Back in the 1950s," but you could go back, say, 2,000 years, when a certain Nazarene kicked the money changers out of the temple. Or to Buddha, who warned of material attachments. Or to Herodotus, whose Solon corrected the most wealthy, most powerful Persian king.
I remember back in the 1960s I had great respect for the U.S. Supreme Court. I'd read biographies of many of the justices yet living, on that bench. One day I walked from South Post, Ft. Myer, to the site where I was taking my final exam in Vietnamese, concluding my year full-time, with native speakers, learning that language.
I stopped at the court building, across from the Capitol, just as a nod of respect. Walked up the steps. Saw a guard at a curtain on the far side of the lobby. He gestured to me. I was in uniform -- knew I'd done nothing wrong, nothing but enter the building. And as I approached him, he stepped and pulled the curtain aside -- and there they all were. William O. Douglas. Hugo Black. Thurgood Marshall. And the others, all in public session.
In recent years I've come to see even more how we rely on good laws, and good adherence to them. But, too, J L, I've come to see we rely on our public schools, K-12 across the land as well as on all those public colleges and universities originally constituted by the Justin Morrill land grant legislation of 1862 -- that we rely on them to be centered on our humanities every bit as much as we do on our laws for freedoms and for a decent, healthy public domain.
The truth is, the Supreme Court most of us respect - the Warren Court - was a historical fluke. Through most of its history, the court has been more like the collection of dweebs and dildos we have now. Eisenhower said his biggest mistake as President was thinking that Earl Warren was still a conservative when he appointed him chief justice.
Not the first time I've heard this assessment, nor about Eisenhower's regret at appointing Warren. It is, however, the first time I have heard that alliterative description of prior (and subsequent) courts; I suspect you could add "dolts" or "dunces" to that already descriptive alliteration.
You often mention the humanities, and I am with you. Like my daughter's college (now bankrupt) my college gave equal weight to humanities and science, and taught philosophy as well. At my school, a continuation of the Hutchins' University of Chicago "Great Books" plan (in an effort to preserve it) every course sequence began with readings for ancient Greece, and selected "seminal" (Western) authors considered influential to the present day; giants upon whose shoulders we now stand. The idea not to worship these personalities (who, for all their fortes and foibles, left positive accomplishments) but to attempt to apply and advance insights they bequeathed; a skill ignored by "teaching to the test".
Each of us finds ourselves forcefully ejected from the predictable and peaceful world of the womb, compelled to deal with physical realities. For us, those realities are experiential as well as physical, and it is the experiential that makes us sentient beings, even as the physical makes this possible. "Rosy fingered dawn", enabled by fusion, photons, and neurons. Biology and the taste, the actual sensory experience, of honey. The gut level experience of laughter and pain. We won the jackpot to wake up in a dangerous and supportive world. replete with surprises, nuance and endless connections and our ways to appreciate them. Education, exploratory, experiential, and pedagogical, extends and clarifies our sphere of awareness, literally expands and enriches our personal universe; or at least has that potential.
I think of the humanities as communicative exploration and sharing of our human experiences, that is the sensuality of being human, even in the form of sometimes puzzling abstractions. All living things draw sustenance ad have other needs, but food can be an artform, speech and tone can be an artform, sexuality can be an artform, obviously the visual, arts, and even movement, or an object lain this way or that, can be an artform. Even aromas.
I think AND feel, therefore I am. We posses thought and sensuality as great gifts "on loan". Why would we not attempt to explore them as fully as we can and dare, and make our world safe enough, and supportive to enable and maximize that process? For ourselves and our posterity?
Congratulations on learning Vietnamese and to you and the other man in uninform that shared that treasure. I recall taking my daughter to see Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. A volunteer docent, who led a tour, was very well informed and candid about contradictions baked into our nation's founding, but reverent and thankful for the Constitution that assemblage produced. The Constitution has good bones, and even a repair mechanism, but it is only as just and as strong what we the living draw from it.
“[F]reedom has never been guaranteed,” Biden said. “Every generation has to earn it; fight for it; defend it in battle between autocracy and democracy, between the greed of a few and the rights of many…. And just as our fallen heroes have kept the ultimate faith with our country and our democracy, we must keep faith with them,” he said.
I like best the little aside you slip in about being born, "forcefully ejected from the predictable and peaceful world of the womb, compelled to deal with physical realities."
That's the beginning of our humanity, our human selves. It doesn't come automatically with our fusion into a fetus. Our humanity, and that of all others, comes comprised with the pain, the shock of not anymore being just passive, just belonging to some place, some group, some sets of givens. We have to wake up. We have to choose. We have to see that fellow others have those complications, those challenges also to deal with.
What are they, for those fellow others?
Having to see that, keeping that obligation honestly upon us -- that, J L empowers, vitalizes all those humanities that our simple-minded and dishonest vulgar aim to avoid.
Respecting what humanity means also obliges us to respect what birth means, as all those theocrats can never understand.
Beautiful rant. “Packaged theocracy” and “set of abstractions.” These autocratic weapons sound weak, but democracy itself is an abstraction, too, that only works if laws are enacted in good faith, embodying the will of the majority. Too many bad faith workarounds (e.g., gerrymandering, filibustering, shadow docket, etc.). Ultimately, it’s “all about the Benjamins,” a truth for our time.
I have enough experience with people across America, and across the world, and with similar, fitting humanities, only to sorrow at your "all about the Benjamins."
My comment about corruption is not a reflection on humanity as a whole, but about those in the minority who would manipulate the majority with legal but dubious workarounds to maintain financial and political power.
Interesting and inspiring that two of the biggest philanthropists in this country are women, Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scott. In the meantime, what are Elon Musk and one Donald J. Trump, both billionaires, doing to further the human condition? Zip. Nadal. Nothing.
And THIS is the subhuman that the Republicans support for another term as POTUS. It is incomprehensible that our country and democracy mean nothing to them, that they would deny freedom of choice and individual rights to women, people of color, and non-binary people.
"Trump appeared angry, and on Sunday, as Greg Sargent reported in The New Republic, he reposted a video of a man raging at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. In it, the man says that when Trump is reelected: “He’ll get rid of all you f*cking liberals. You liberals are gone when he f*cking wins. You f*cking blowjob liberals are done. Uncle Donnie’s gonna take this election—landslide. Landslide, you f*cking half a blowjob. Landslide. Get the f*ck out of here, you scumbag.”
Trump’s elevation of this video, Sargent notes, is a dangerous escalation of his already violent rhetoric, and yet it has gotten very little media attention."
it's only comprehensible as some kind of strange abhorrent yet present in the dark recesses of sick minds and hearts... maybe the question is why are they that sick? or maybe it's how are they that sick?
It is still possible, as low as he has shown himself to be, to go lower. He has no bottom. God help us! He liberates the darkest recesses of the disabled human heart. They love him unconditionally.
President Biden said, "women and men." He is the first politician I have heard in my 64yrs put women first. Why spokespeople asked to describe Mr. Trump do not use the word "psychopath" is confusing to me. The video Mr. Trump posted is highly characteristic of the psychopath's groomed sycophant. The sycophant does not initiate but dog whistles and motivates others into actions most often described as sadism. Mr. Trump is dog whistling for those who are criminals, white supremacists and sadists to move to the front from where they have been hiding in plain sight. Cody Roberts and his sadistic and highly public behavior is an excellent example.
The term sociopath refers to someone living with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) — as does the term psychopath.
The most recent edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5-TR), which mental health professionals use to diagnose mental health conditions, defines ASPD as a consistent disregard for rules and social norms and repeated violation of other people’s rights.
People with the condition might seem charming and charismatic at first, at least on the surface, but they generally find it difficult to understand other people’s feelings. They often:
break rules or laws
behave aggressively or impulsively
feel little guilt for harm they cause others
use manipulation, deceit, and controlling behavior
(...)
There’s no standard list of sociopath signs, but the signs and symptoms of ASPD include a persistent pattern of disregard for others. For example:
ignoring social norms and laws, breaking rules at school or work, overstepping social boundaries, stealing, stalking and harassing others, or destroying property
dishonesty and deceit, including using false identities and manipulating others for personal gain
difficulty controlling impulses and planning for the future, or acting without considering the consequences
aggressive or aggravated behavior, including frequent fights or physical conflict with others
disregard for personal safety, or the safety of others
difficulty managing responsibilities, including showing up at work, handling tasks, or paying rent and bills
little to no guilt or remorse, or a tendency to justify actions that negatively affect others
People with ASPD generally show little emotion or interest in the lives of others. They might:
come across as arrogant or superior, with firmly fixed opinions
use humor, intelligence, and charisma to manipulate
seem charming at first until their self-interest becomes clear
People with ASPD generally find it challenging to maintain friendships, relationships, and other mutually fulfilling connections. This difficulty may stem from traits, like:
low empathy and emotional intelligence
difficulty learning from mistakes
lack of concern for the safety of others
a tendency to intimidate and threaten in order to maintain control
What is missing in the Healthline description is the component of sadism which is rarely discussed outside of LE and the judicial system. Figliuzzi's book Long Haul documents the application of the diagnosis .
I am so tired of seeing TFG's name in the news. All the horrible things that he says and posts covered constantly while news of Biden's accomplishments gets pushed aside. I firmly believe that the media needs to stop covering TFG's every move and slander and start covering the good news of the current administration.
I am really pleased that Biden's campaign spokesperson showed up and had the opportunity to explain why he was there - great job. I hope the news people pay attention, deep attention to what he said.
Biden's commencement speech at West Point was beautiful, inspiring and appropriate. Other than HCR's coverage of it I saw/heard very little about it. His Memorial Day speech echoed the West Point speech and, again, no coverage other than HCR.
Those of us that read Letters from an American already know that TFG is a horrible person who should never hold public office again. Most, if not all of the people who watch CNN and MSNBC feel the same way. We need good news to share, the story needs to be turned around.
Penny, may I suggest this SubStack: What Did Joe Biden Do Today….gives a daily dose of what is REALLY going on in the Biden//Harris Admin—stuff that the MSM often doesn’t carry: https://whatdidbidendotoday.substack.com/
"Each one bound by common commitment—not to a place, not to a person, not to a President, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history: the idea of the United States of America.”
Brings back:
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” - Gen. Mark Milley
Excellent interview with him on Nicole Wallace’s Deadline Whitehouse show on MSNBC today…she commended him for stepping up and setting aside his political neutrality from a historian’s perspective during these fraught times. His perspective as a historian made his making an exception to this long-held stance even more profound. I hope this link works: https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/ken-burns-there-is-no-real-choice-this-november-211791941577 He also mentioned a PBS-based site that has links to his work…I ended up bookmarking it: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/unum/
Over the holiday weekend I, several times, considered those who, in Lincoln’s words “gave the last full measure of devotion” and wondered how they would react to the present circumstances in the country.
It also seems fairly evident that the founders, in debating the constitution, could never have considered a time when the perfect storm of dishonorable persons would inhabit every level of government.
We have let our guard down. It is not too late but we need to correct it…now!
cFM, great to remind us of Lincoln's eloquent words. But Founders not only considered such a 'perfect storm of dishonorable' people would arrive, they lived in an era with as many of them of them then we have now and designed our government accordingly. (Benedict Arnold, other British sympathizers, etc.). Instead I think they would say 'WTF, how can you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory' you idiots! Remember: Thomas Jefferson drew up, clandestinely, articles of succession for Virginia and tried to convince Washington that Hamilton (who viewed George as a father) was plotting a coup to install a British royal on a throne in America.
For me, the highlight may seem trivial, but it is this: "When Robert Costa of CBS News asked campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler why they had shown up at the trial, Tyler answered: “Because you all are here. You’ve been incessantly covering this day in and day out, and we want to remind the American people ahead of the…first debate on June 27 of the unique, persistent, and growing threat that Donald Trump poses to the American people and to our democracy. So since you all are here, we’re here communicating that message."
Bravo to DeNiro and Tyler, and I hope this represents more speaking truth to media in the future.
Juxtaposed on the staggering imbalance in coverage of Hillary Clinton's remarks, and the omission of the rest of her comments in that reporting, two things are clear:
1. As a whole and with few exceptions, news and pseudo-news outlets share a large part of the blame for the illusion of Trump's popularity.
2. Because they have fostered that illusion, they also share a large part of the blame for leading people who feel shut out of American prosperity to believe that if they follow Trump, they actually are, for once, in the mainstream.
How does that work? The reasons people turn to crime is summarized in sociological literature as "redefining the desirable." In other words, when more peaceful or legitimate avenues of security and belonging are perceived as not available, people will find deviant behavior more desirable if it gives them belonging or identity with a group. Examples are gang initiations of murder or robbery that lead to admission to a group that has their back. Such actions also draw on the pent up emotion and frustration, which is then further supported by the shared dislike of anything that supports "the establishment" and further crime to keep group adhesion high. Until caught, they also gain a sense of superiority in "getting over."
I don't need to point out how Trump has used this technique, or how he was able to convince the rioters to storm the capitol, the parents to allow their teenage son to go to another city and shoot protesters, or even, sadly enough, to convince legislative leaders and some neurotic wanna-be leaders to ignore their solemn oath to govern and uphold the Constitution.
Bottom line for the campaign and those who support it: Get the show on the road. Show up where the media shows up. (Yes, it will likely be dangerous in some cases.) Seek out the beat reporter, not just interviews with well-coifed anchors in cushy offices. Be on the streets, shadow the rallies and find a reporter in that town to talk with about what's really at stake. Use street language. Get the word out.
I was astonished to see the statistics regarding that "staggering imbalance." I'd always felt that the negative coverage was wildly overdone, but Dr. Richardson provides the numbers to back it up. It got to the point where "Benghaaaazi!' and "but her emails...!" became internet memes. The tragedy is that internet snark did not translate to votes. The Trump stain on our national psyche, national interest, and national honor remains almost indelible.
Campaign strategy for electoral votes, not the popular vote which went to Clinton, made the difference, along with Comey's self-righteousness which made him a pawn.
KEM, Agreed that DeNiro and Tyler took the first clever steps to emerging from the Republicans' "silent majority" of yore to becoming something more than the quiet majority!
It is amazing that Trump is alive and walking freely on our streets protected by an armed guard we pay for. It is shameful and an international embarrassment that he has NOT been charged with his most serious crime when over 1,000 of his legions have been convicted and are sentenced up to 22 years. Between the failure to prosecute AND the atrocious delays and decisions by SCOTUS AND JUDGE CANON, it is no wonder the any respect for our legal system is fading away.
Thank you, Prof.Richardson, for putting these events in perspective. I read several other progressive bloggers today and they were so focused on the forces against President Biden’s re-election that I felt overwhelmed.
But I also decided that I and other activists can’t let that torrent of fear overcome us. If necessary, I must tune out all of the fear and warnings and do what I can do to get out the vote. I and others like me have to write postcards, knock on doors, post social media ads and do the other groundwork to win a Democratic trifecta and defeat MAGA from the top to the bottom of the ticket.
Absolutely! We need to all keep working for President Biden and other Dems to crush MAGA under the biggest landslide in history! And with that, I’m back to postcard writing.
The comparison between the two Memorial Day statements couldn’t be more stark, and our future more clear.
And Trump and his family's lack of military service made Memorial Day a very good day to just shut up.
I agree 100%, they have no standing to say anything.
I get Trump's daily emails (about 6 or 7 asking for money.) Trump is running really, really scared. I think that it is largely because he knows that he's guilty and that the jury knows it, too. This is part of the latest TFFG's email:
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! >
I CAN’T GO TO BED UNTIL I HEAR FROM YOU!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE respond before midnight!
NOW is the time to help me SAVE AMERICA >
After the raids, indictments, and arrests: DO I HAVE YOUR SUPPORT? >
Makes you wonder about the American Dream if many citizens send money to a lying, thrice married, serial philanderer and think this person will help them out.
Swbv, they see in TFFG much of themselves: racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic. In other words, the KKK, 21st century version, now known as MAGA.
indeed, Richard. Death star has given this rubble, this basket of deplorables, carte blanche to be the worst that humans can be.
It worries me that labeling other human beings as rubble (i.e. trash, garbage) Is just a more sophisticated expression of hatred and fear of "the other" that resides in our reptilian brain and was once responsible for survival of the species. Of course we need to keep safe boundaries, self, family, country, and I am not suggesting we condone individual or group acts of violence or other crimes. But if we want any hope of a more peaceful nation, we need to incorporate some measure of understanding and care for those whom we find easy to lump all together into one object of our hatred.
Exactly.
I think it's important not to lump "they" all in one group. Hilary's second half of the statement captures why Trump was able to con so many decent people: “people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.”
What we are learning is that many of these folks simply do not know all the ramifications of his blustering because they are not following the same news sources we are. "Reporting" from Fox, Newsmax etc just makes them feel that somebody does get them, which makes it easy for them to be in denial about all the bad stuff.
I think many of us in this community, if we look carefully at our own lives, can find places where we are in denial about something that isn't good for us. Maybe it's just that the more educated we are, the more ways we have to justify things such as self-starvation to stay ultra thin, working long hours that deprive our families of our presence (I'm not talking about needing two jobs just to pay the rent and buy food), drinking enough alcohol to numb out at the end of the day.
“people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.”
Since grade B actor Reagan proclaimed in 1980 that government is the problem, the gop at the state and federal level have striven to make his claim true; by underfunding vital social support programs, underfunding public education; by privatizing Medicare programs; by eviserating anti trust and anti monopoly regulations which minimize market place completion needed to prevent price gouging; and created voucher programs in violation of the ‘separation of church and state’ concept fundamental to the founding of our nation!
They are separate for change but the less fortunate’s vision for change is radically different from the libertarian policies implemented by maga politicians!
Chaplain, the bottom line, IMO, is that G. W. Bush was right when at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on 3-31-2001 he said: "you can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Thomas Frank explained how the wealthy get common white folks to vote Republican by using wedge issues: abortion, women's rights, gay rights, immigration, etc. The first 30 pages of HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War" is worth the read. It's a problem that has been with us since 1619.
https://polinews.org/everythings-gone-to-hell-for-fox-news-network-has-reportedly-lost-their-certification-as-a-trusted-news-source-face-losing-their-top-advertisers-and-tons-of-money/
I came across this and was so pleased about it.
Normally, I never lump a group of people as all the same. However, MAGAs continue to support death star and his minions and there is nothing decent about any of it or them when they accept the criminal activity and all the rest of it. Death star does not have one redeeming human virtue, none, period. We were just out and about today and passed one place that had all sorts of military looking vehicles with camo and lots of flags. I'm sorry, but I know exactly what this person is and is saying. As for myself, I am human, so I make mistakes, but I do not do any of the things you mentioned. Btw, I have spent the last two weeks defending good people of faith and the idea of prayer as a way of helping people feel supported. So far I have blocked two people, been treated to lots of f bombs, suffered too clever by half mansplaining, and all the while, nearly every one of them have assumed that i am some kind of religious fundamentalist.
TFG only represents what his supporters are all about, i.e. anti everything. They would support a zombie who was against the rights of all minorities, women, the government, and immigrants. That is why they support the like of a tRump. And that is why he can say and do ANYTHING and they would support him.
But this is OUR country. We don’t want it ruled by a despot. George III was rejected for good reason 250 years ago. I don’t want a reprise
In my frustration with the confounding support the decaying tfg continues to get, I've been saying that if the gop thought charles manson was their best hope for the presidency, they'd dig him up and run him. Absurd is no longer absurd.
Glad you said it!
How weak and pathetic LOSER
True, Jeri, it is absolutely pathetic, but we can't miss our chance to crush them at the polls in November and after that, hopefully, take back our country and begin a new "New Deal" that will benefit the vast majority of Americans instead of the oligarchs. HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War," and Barbara McQuade's book, "Attack from Within," explain what is happening here. We need to organize and defeat these forces that have been here since the founding of the nation.
Yeh.. get rid of this Bloviating Bestial Banal-Brained Bulging Booger-Bag of Bulimic-Bullshidt and Beastial Beseechment. Be Gone doosh! Go live in one of those 105 mile long skyscrapers the Saudis' are building... if you can afford it. Load your family into that 757, no Pre-Chek needed.., just Be Gone!
Awesome alliterations abound!
Love your adjectives. Would I wake up someday to that reality...
Right. Easier saying alliterations than done. We might as well be babbling to ourselves in a closet. I am SO sick of trump "news".
Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow at the Apollo 2 nights ago on MSNBC 1.5 hr (without ads as i taped it) conversation was such good history and right up to today about how to save our Democratic republic was fabulous! The best thing and case made that I've seen on TV about this election. VOTE in huge numbers!
https://www.nbc.com/joy-reid-and-rachel-maddow-live-at-the-apollo
Thank you, without ads is such a joy
I've watched what was happening since Is was 21 years old. Just didn't know a lot of background. The more I learn, the less surprising today's events are. But no excuse, fight on, and on, and on
A weak and pathetic loser who appears to have a good chance at winning this November. There are many "deplorables" out there. HRC was right on.
Indeed she was, from the git go
And I might add - would have been one of the finest presidents this country would have ever had. Nothing short of a political tragedy on so many levels.
I think that is one of the reasons that his campaign is inflating his rally sizes, and even pushing such ridiculous stuff as Trump got an "enthusiastic" reception at the Libertarian convention. He sure did--if constant booing which got him off the stage in a half hour is enthusiasm!
Of course, FOX, Newsmax and OAN is not going to report the news. I get upset with traditional media giving Trump all this free publicity (that helped him get elected in 2016!!) This is one reason I'm posting on here all the time: check out the YouTube channels of Brian Tyler Cohen, Glenn Kirshner, Marc Ellis, and any on the Meidas Touch network of youtube. Every time you subscribe, watch, and ESPECIALLY hit the "like" button (do it immediately when you log on) you push these up in the computer algorithms.
Not everyone can knock on doors, or can tolerate making phone calls, or have the funds to donate to campaigns. Clicking on the Youtube channels is easy. Sending links to friends or posting on you social media is also easy. Writing letters and postcards to voters is easy--albeit you have to self fund. (Some sites offer free postcards and even kits to cover expenses if you contact them.)
Elias
Correct! Thank you.
I signed up to make a monthly donation to the Biden campaign and to Sherrod Brown’s senatorial campaign in OH. He’s running a very tight race and it could flip the senate to the R’s. The Ohio State legislature is working to keep Biden off of the ballot in Nov, if you can even believe that.
He can’t go to bed until he’s heard from you? So part of his problem is sleep-deprivation, is that it?
He's a big efen baby.
How can you stand to get those? Sounds like a desperate man!
Elizabeth, I understand your bewilderment. My Ph.D. is in Chinese history. Hsun Tzu, a famous Chinese general is said to have said about 250 B.C.: "Know your enemy and in 100 battles you will win 100 victories." I see it as research.
"The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” Hsun Tzu.
That’s where the ‘know your enemy’ hails from. Good to know professor
Richard, good for you. We have a friend who listens to what she calls enemy radio and goes to enemy events. She is very knowledgeable in terms of what's up locally. I have been to events where the enemy came to ours also.
Ha ha! Granddaughter just did a thesis on Strategy using his book, The Art of War.
He will be acquitted or a jurist will be bought or threatened and hung the jury. I pray not, but ......
No, Mr. Kravetz, he will not. This is New York. Very different from someplace in Idaho. New Yorkers hate trump. I've spoken with quite a few New Yorkers, and what they hate is that when people speak of the Orange Turd, they say things like, "Well, yeah, but he's from New York." They HATE that they're equated with the likes of him. I believe we'll have a verdict no later than Friday. Then, we wait to see just how badly the Turd has pissed off Judge Merchan. THIS is the beginning of the end, but we still have a lot of work to do.
I do not think that Judge Merchan will use the insults from TFFG, his lawyer OR the defense's only witness to decide a sentence. He's not that "small". In this instructions to the jury, he warns about personal opinions that have nothing to do with the evidence.
Harvey, I share your concern, but a hung jury is not an acquittal. TFFG could be tried again. As time progresses, TFFG becomes more desperate. All of the people around TFFG are paying a huge price for helping him. Cohen, Giuliani and now Jenna Ellis, suspended from law practice for three years in Colorado. I grieve for her, so young and so misinformed.
They've watched the many go up in flames at the candle, yet the moths continue to come.
I get it with moths, but I thought humans were better equipped to read the circumstances. And yet.
Sarcasm, perhaps? You grieve for an experienced lawyer who—as part of a sustained thought process—chose to betray the oath that is at the center of her profession? If an equally young banker decided to go home with a bag of twenties, would you ever expect her to work as a banker again when caught?
Tom, you have an excellent point. I suppose that it's my old age the grieves at how a young lady could ruin her life for such a worthless person. There is no joy to be taken from the outcome.
There is almost no chance for an acquittal. But there is always a chance for a hung jury—even a single juror can accomplish that. A hung jury is a mistrial, which means he can be tried again, if NYC wants to try again.
I would be astonished if Trump was foolish enough to bribe or threaten a juror. Or if any of his lawyers would cross that line. That is a serious felony that NYC would happily prosecute.
Trump would bribe or threaten a juror in a New York minute if he could figure out how to do it. He is "foolish" enough to have done zillions of illegal and corrupt things.
I think he and they do not have the necessary info to identify and find any of the jurors, which you have to do if you're going to threaten or bribe them. That's the sole reason he's not acting like he has some ace in the hole, like a friendly or "owned" juror. He's not winking at anyone in the jury box. Of all the jury reports I've read, I haven't seen any comment about any juror acting in any way that would suggest being on Trumps side. They seem to be uniformly attentive, in a totally appropriate way. No boredom, eye rolling, frowns when others are smiling, etc. I'm cautiously, very cautiously, hopeful that there's no juror there who will hold out no matter what.
I don't believe a hold out could hold out against 11 very convinced others and all that evidence.
...but, isn't it funny how tffg has gotten away with so much already.....will this be like "shooting someone on Fifth Avenue"?
Judge Merchan has certainly held their butts to the fire, IMHO. To me, he has applied corporal punishment to their baby-skinned bottoms. Parents today might do well to take a lesson here and apply it to their little crumb-muffins when their hummingbird mouths overload their little rhinoceros backsides. Maybe I should have just said 'obese backsides'.... No?
I made the mistake of equating a hung jurt with an acquittal. My bad. That being the case the evidence is black and white. There is really no defense against the overwhelming evidence. Hard as the defense has tried they have made no convincing argument. And they pulled a Hail Mary telling the jury to consider that a conf=viction would put a former president in prison was against trial rules they knew it but wanted to plant it in the juries minds. The judge admonished the defense for breaking the rule and told the jury that the comment was to be ignored and not be considered, guilty or not is their job and sentencing was the judge’s.
I agree. Everything seemed to go the State’s way. I am hopeful.
I have wondered about how the jury is protected. Were they told to not reveal their jury duty on this case to any friend because that person might inform who they were and where they live? I believe their lives are in danger, not necessarily from tffg, but from one of his devotees.......
hahahaa.. Judith, here's my put: They're New Yorkers... F--- with them at your own risk. Ever driven the 'cross-Bronx Expressway' ? You better deal with it.
C'mon Tom.. you know the "turds" don't play by 'our' rules, so the burden will fall, once again, on 'us' to PROVE "that line" was crossed. Bingo.. back to square one. The trip to "square one" is a trip frought with all the legal delays attornys$$$$ can file for, while they delay rhe trip to the toilet. Big Media wins, taxpayers lose some more. Haven't we just witnessed this trick in Manhattan? Sorreeee.
I would love it if they came back today because that mean be a guilty verdict. However, if they have to deliberate for days and days, he still has to sit there, or be close enough which means no campaigning to the deplorables. NYC is not where his cult members live.
If there is one deplorable on the jury, then they can just start another go round. More time for tffg to sit there. He would have to find a new lawyer because this one is C R A P.
This is classic Strongman talk, according to the description laid out in Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen. They have to create a crisis that only they can rescue everyone from and suspend rights to protect everyone as they fight against an othered enemy which once quelled will make everything great again. He is a Hitler wannabe, and his followers may make him into a Hitler with Nukes.
Linda, thank you for this. So what you're saying is that our own resident malignant narcissist is not necessarily a case of first impression in the world? How did we ever grow such a misfit?
Everyone grows them. We need to recognize that we have him, and then look at what it will take to diffuse his momentum and his right-wing populist movement.
I suppose it is time to pull out Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements." Germany had its Hitler and Jews were the bogeyman; here now we have Trump and minorities, Jews, [the marchers at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting, "Jews will not replace us," i.e., Klan talk, immigrants, women's rights advocates and gay rights advocates are the bogeyman. And then I think of the refrain from "South Pacific:" "You've got to be carefully taught."
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
I trust you kept trampler up all night, Richard!
I hope so. Oh, do I ever hope so while I slept the sleep of the One thousand Innocents.
From Andy Borowitz, a couple of days ago:
QUEENS, NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In what has become a Memorial Day tradition for him, on Monday Donald J. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Podiatrist.
Trump made his annual pilgrimage to pay homage to the heroic doctors who issued bogus diagnoses to ensure that their privileged patients never answered the call of duty.
In an emotional tribute, Trump thanked the fallen foot specialists who bravely risked their medical licenses so that others facing military service could be free.
Choking back tears, he said, “They gave everything so people like me could give nothing.”
Jon Margolis, please... join me. Send that Turd a bar of Dove soap (it's easy to hold), address it to him.., Rikers Island Correctional Facility, 1500 Hazen St, East Elmhurst, NY 11370. The orange Turd is goona need it when he bends over in the showers... So I've been told.
I used to get him on facebook but I'm off facebook now. (WASTE OF TIME!) I just subscribed to his substack. It's smart that he can now reap in dollars.....I will probably start paying later.
I look at the free. I subscribe to enough. Not like the old days, when you could get a year for $9.99.
My policy from years raising a family on a tight budget was free, free, free. I was frugal, and frankly, sometimes: cheap. Now at 85, I have a quite nice portfolio and need to distribute to causes I believe in or that amuse me. The latter might be a token $9.99. Heather has more money than she ever imagined. But, to comment, we pay. She am sure she "distributes"........... I won't have to comment on Borowitz Report....unless, I come up with something I think is brilliantly funny.........
Happy to pay for HCR. But maybe not for Andy.
but he can never do that because it is always and forever only about him
Swbv, when exactly has death star, in particular, actually shut up. I also note his sons can't either. And they always choose to say something totally awful and tone deaf.
Can you imagine, if even for a moment, what it must have been like to grow up in a household where TFG sat at the head of table and shared his valuable life lessons? When I look at and hear DJT Jr. and Eric, I think malevolence, hubris, and lying are the fruits of that poisoned tree.
Dysfunctional doesn't begin to cover it.
Fruits from a poisoned tree are poison. Everything tffg touches dies or becomes a danger.......... to everything.
Carol, you are so right! The future is “a democracy, if we can keep it”. With laws being proposed (and passed) to disenfranchise infrequent voters, we need to reach out to friends who have been infrequent voters to check their registration and, if necessary, update it ahead of November. Pick 5 friends to check up on and encourage to vote this November. Suggest that they each pick five friends to champion. We can save this democracy, one at a time.
YES! I call this the ripple effect. I have written about it before. I sent out 20 letters to 20 friends and encouraged each of them to do the same. Right now I am writing 100 postcards to swing state infrequent voters. You can do the same. Look up Postcards to Swing States. It has been shown that there is a voter increase of 2% from this effort. That can be a election changer.
Postcards To Swing States are FREE and they have beautiful designs !
✍️
https://www.turnoutpac.org/postcards/
Just signed up and sent this out to about 100 really good Democrats. Thank you for this.
Penny, thanks for the hint! I’ll check it out.
Penny, I’ll be sure not to use this message that might alarm some of the voters: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/05/pa-primary-2022-postcard-social-pressure-campaign/
another good cause to support.
We can add a line saying the postcards were free and not connected to a political party.
Jennifer, I would be taken aback by the idea that someone that I didn’t know might be checking up to see if I voted. Saying that the postcards are not connected to a political party wouldn’t allay any fears of that.
Do you know how they have concluded a 2% bump from postcard writing. I stopped writing postcards bc I find this hard to believe.
I would love to be proven wrong, I would start writing postcards again today.
Quite a contrast indeed between honoring those that sacrificed their lives to defend the Constitution and railing against those whose task it is to establish Justice, t(he 2nd aspiration in the Preamble) It's illegal to defame and payoff someone with before tax money, to silence them and cover up the truth about a candidate for President.
Stark is the word 💙🇺🇸
Joe Biden’s Memorial Day message made a difference to all who gave “the last full measure “ of devotion to these United States. A solemn and moving reminder of who we are, and why.
I agree with you Carol!!👍!
Go Melinda! Her divorce and that of Mackenzie have made the world a much better place.
Her donation today is fabulously generous and urgently needed.
"Money, if you'll pardon the expression, is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow" ~Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly
I don't know how many times I heard "money doesn't change anything" when talking to my white privileged colleagues about the success of programs like headstart. My retort was....it's made a difference even with our little, half assed investment into the program ...imagine what it would do if we invested fully into the programs. Headstart works, pre-kindergarten works....investment in education always works. Money makes a difference!
Bravo Melinda Gates....if only her X would be as generous.
As a native Texan, I am very familiar with this observation made by Clint Murchison, Sr. many decades ago: "Money is like manure. If you spread it around, it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up in one place, it stinks like hell."
This is soooo true and is part of the problem in the U.S. today - too much wealth has been concentrated in the hands of the few.
That's a good caution to what happens if you don't spread it around, Richard. I think Dolly would approve!
A line from "Hello Dolly!"
My father used to say "money is the root of all evil"!
Well, there's that, too, Sally!
I love that! Thanks for quoting!
Beautifully worded, too.
It is unfortunate that Elon Musk never got married in order to divide his wealth in half so that the better half would do some good with it! Rather than abandoning affordable EVs in favor of chasing AI. Elon just isn't interested in leading the EV revolution anymore unless he can get from being worth 1-2 hundred billion dollars to $1 trillion. Tesla needs to dump him and let him start up a new company, competing with all of the AI others, and see how well he does then.
In other news, Microsoft under Bill Gates engaged in monopolistic practices. Even worse under Steve Balmer, who famously threw chairs at employees when he was not getting his way.
I'm still amazed, but current CEO and Chairman of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, is only worth $300 million, and has led Microsoft in a better direction. I've been forced from Linux onto Windows at work, but now I can run Linux on top of Windows via Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux. No duel booting required anymore!
Elon Musk accused Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, of destroying Western civilization with her philanthropy. Then she quietly doubled her donations.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mackenzie-scott-doubles-donations-in-spite-of-elon-musks-accusations-2024-3
Fabulous!! Thank you for this bit of excellent news. Musk is a scumbag - how did he go from being a cool, interesting guy into .... what he is now? "destroying Western civilization" i'faith!
Has anyone seen the World's Ugliest four-wheeled vehicle? I finally saw one today here in El Lay, the crazy car capitol of the world. Uuuggggggleeeeeeeeeeee!!! Think "Rejected by Furiosa." Elmo has his taste where most right wing scum generally have it. Up his ass.
I saw my first one "on the hoof" last March coming home from Portland. It was a rainy Oregon day, and the "vehicle" was already starting to rust. Upon my initial assessment, I believe that the "bed" of that "pickup" has less payload capability than a standard four door Prius with the back seats folded down. Earlier this month I saw a fully loaded car carrier with them on it; they are no more visually appealing when brand new. In conversation with my niece and her fiance, they said they had seen/heard of several traffic crashes involving those "vehicles" where the (unfinished and unprotected) steel had sliced through other vehicles.
There is nothing attractive or safe about those vehicles. Steel plates over plastic.
I saw one last week. It’s the oddest looking thing! What I haven’t seen is one pulling anything - and isn’t that what trucks are for? Not being (pardon me) phallic symbols? I guess the rockets weren’t phallic enough for him.
I've never gotten close enough to their rear bumpers to look under there to see if there is even a hitch.
Saw one in NJ couple of weeks ago--truly fugly!
We have seen several here in the Irvine-Tustin area. Truly the ugliest, funniest looking “trucks” ever seen outside of cartoons. The only possible reason to have one is to let others know you can afford it.
Yes! One was parked opposite our Temporary Home recently. This lane is all funky little Victorian/Edwardian houses & cottages, and seeing it here caused cognitive dissonance! YUK
Not getting married hasn't stopped him from breeding like a rabbit, but he's stingy with the money, having no assured financial commitment to the children. Musk scares me. His ideas are radically changing this world (for better or worse) but they have also concentrated considerable capability into his unfettered hands. For example, he has changed the night sky around the planet, provided internet in all the far flung places, but then also shut off the internet to prevent a devastating attack on Russia by the Ukrainians. Now he's fiddling in AI and implanting things in people's brains, which could be good or bad, depending upon which side of the bed he awakens. This man has built himself a hand of God and it scares the piss out of me. We are dependent upon his good will and intentions.
I agree, but please explain more about "implanting things in people's brains." I haven't heard about that.
His "neural link" devices, I believe they just got FDA approval to go ahead and test on more subjects.
Oh, right, now that you mention it! How weird that people would voluntarily do something like that. Also, why would the FDA approve it? Again: weird.
Let the FIRST neural implant start with him, and hopefully, the surgeon's scalpel will slip.
He actually has gotten married, several times in fact. This article about his first wife really made me hate him: https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a5380/millionaire-starter-wife/
Oh hey. Thanks. Somewhere along the line (and it appears I'm not alone), I got the impression he was not marrying these women he's having kids with.
Yes, several people seem to believe that. Maybe because it's hard to imagine women would actually marry him? He appears to like getting married (staying married is another issue) but I'd be shocked if he doesn't have an ironclad prenup in place after his first marriage, if not before. He's always been wealthy.
Musk makes me think of the fictional Charles Lindbergh, as portrayed in "The Plot Against America," by Philip Roth.
This is more than a bit silly. WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) gives you access to all of the greatness of Linux, minus the stability because Windows is still running the whole show.
Just this morning, it took me 20 minutes to log on. That is no joke!
So why do you use it?
I use Windows only because my employer says use it or else. Until recently, and until forced to migrate, I have only run Linux since 1998.
I hear you about winblows.
Been running Linux since 1995.
So glad I don't have to work because I would throw up in my mouth every time I had to start winblows.
Sorry, but Microsoft's demands to adopt unsought innovations are driving me mad.
Elon Musk has been married - twice.
He's been married a few times. This article about his first wife really made me hate him: https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a5380/millionaire-starter-wife/.
"The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade"
"[Leonard] Leo, the force behind this network, arrived at the Mayflower after spending the day at Trump Tower in New York. He met with the president-elect and his top aides about turning the list of Supreme Court justice candidates that Leo curated into legal reality. Republicans in the Senate had taken a risk by refusing to hold hearings to fill the seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia toward the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. Now, with Trump positioned to nominate one of its own, Leo’s movement stood on the verge of an enormous triumph, with a court that would once again be dominated by Republican-appointed justices — and those who were firmly on the side of restricting abortion. Trump confirmed in the meeting that if someone was not on the list, that person would not be considered."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/magazine/roe-v-wade-christian-network.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vU0.fdfZ.pDnWpBOj94-u&smid=url-share
Melinda Gates has long supported the underprivileged and the persecuted. She was already a great philanthropist. Thank you Ms. Gates for your commitment to helping those in need.
On a more sour note, have any of you been receiving myriad calls from PACS wanted your donations? They are all representing seemingly benign groups like firefighters, breast cancer and children. I have never given to a PAC even when forced to when I worked for a small insurance company in Illinois. Ultimately, my boss who was told by the owners they wanted 100% participation pitched in a contribution for me.
Anyway, these groups appear to be fronts for the MAGAs. They tell you they give money to politicians to advance their cause, but when asked if they give to Republicans either they don't answer, they tell you they are not political or they offer to put you on the DNC list. And then after they tell you they will put you on the DNC list, they call 20 more times.
I reposted Melinda Gates' post on Facebook about funding women around the world and here in the USA. A second later, Facebook deleted the shared repost claiming they "suspected scam" and that it "violated their rules" and that my account would be locked down if I continued. Evidence of Zuckerberg's foot on the media scale.
Ooo, please send me what you posted to fB,and I'll give it a try.
I simply shared Melinda Gates's Facebook post with one line saying how I always invest in women because women invest in family and community. I WAS able to post a second article that I copied from the New York Times editorial, but then I wanted to share her Facebook post for people to read in its entirety without the paywall.
Disgusting.
Whaaa??
But the NYT used the word ‘stunt’ to describe DeNiro’s speech. Gonna write to them. Outrageous.
Can’t find it now. Either they took it down, edited it, or I was mistaken. I hope I was mistaken, but was so shocked when I read it, I kind of doubt it. The other articles printed later are better.
Of course the DT all caps seem to be news. A real question whether reprinting that is awareness building or just ‘all exposure is good’ for him. His photo is so ubiquitous, it’s painful.
What did they say about the Trumpettes in their blue suits and red ties? More and more over the years, the coverage of DJT et al. by the NYT has become less and less informative. Are they covering their behinds should he be re-elected?
Exactly. Don’t believe they used the word ‘stunt’ for those Trump mouthpieces.
No, the owner of the NYT was dissed by Biden. Biden wouldn't sit down with an interview with him. Of course, negative news also sells.
I'm reading the NYT (online) less and less. I need to cancel, don't I?
Do it. I felt much better afterwards.
Thinking about it as well. After being a devoted subscriber for more decades than I care to admit. I'm so disappointed with the NYT.
I’m thinking to stay a subscriber and write. Maybe some of you who write brilliantly could do an op ed piece?
Just tried to find it again and either I was mistaken ( I was stunned by the use of that word, but also by the word ‘troll’ for trolling Dt) or they have taken it down or edited. So I can’t find the byline. Other articles they’ve printed are better. Thank goodness. I hope I was mistaken!!
If I could read Paul Krugman, Maggie Haberman and a couple of others, I would drop it, but I trust his economic analysis of the US and International economies more than anyone else alive today. (John Kenneth Galbraith will always be my favorite).
Yes. Noisily.
You mean family DNA failure A.G. Sulzberger would act like a petty spoiled heir?
Inconthievable!!
Princess Bride! Love it!
This ^
The NYT is so thoroughly in the tank for the Yam, it's a disgrace to the paper they once were. The paper that published the Pentagon Papers and broke government scandal after government scandal and risked the wrath of Republican presidents has tarnished its reputation because A. G. Sulzberger has his panties in a twist.
Why? Because OHJB refuses to give him a sit-down interview. Sulzberger seems to feel he's owed this by some Divine Right (or other). He's a pissant, barely 44 years old, who thinks he's due the respect of his father, grandfather and so on, when he's done nothing to earn it. He's steering the venerable NYT onto the rocks.
And I say this as a very long-term subscriber, from the 70s on. My beloved NYT is nearly unrecognizable now.
The most reliably accurate paper on life in America is...Financial Times of London. The most reliably accurate broadcast on life in America is...BBC.
Also the Guardian has a very good American edition.
The Guardian is fraying round the edges, I fear.
Every week there are at least three top news stories about American/Washington politics in the Guardian that either scoop the NYT or that NYT doesn't even bother to run prominently or run at all. The top British political reporting is still covering actual politics. NYT has decided American politics is all about the clicks - ie, revenue, and Trump stories get the clicks. Earlier this week the top three stories in NYT online morning edition were all Trump. If Trump were paying NYT for preferential coverage it wouldn't look any different than it does. NYT still does good journalism on features and some investigative reporting, but its election coverage has descended into political bias. It's infuriating given that nothing less than American democracy is at stake but it's also very sad.
Yesterday's online edition was 100% tRump articles
Except the Times and BBC still treat the upcoming election like a horse race.
I’ve recently dropped my subscription to NYT
Family DNA failure A.G. Sulzberger is the best argument in favor of 100% inherited wealth tax on sums in excess of $5 million.
"Inheritance is welfare for the rich." Warren Buffett....
Speaking of Warren, his late wife Susan Buffett was one of the great philanthropists. Her and Bono were friends and accomplished many things together. She was a big supporter of education and assisted many underfunded schools.
I think that the interview thing is probably overblown. The NYT and WaPo seemed to flag with investigative journalism since Pentagon Papers and Woodward-Bernstein days. Seems like most of the mainstream news is at least partially inbedded for a long time.
JL, this is an interesting piece by Thom Hartmann regarding press coverage: https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-press-what-has-happened-to-the-074?publication_id=302288&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=6wq7j&utm_medium=email Check it out if you want…
I am a semi-regular reader of Hartman, but had not seen this. You cannot do democracy without a well informed electorate. It just won't work, and we need to change it.
"When large numbers of the people of any nation believe things that are objectively untrue, it’s a huge warning sign that something is awry with that nation’s media." Thom Hartman
To say nothing of its education system.
My comment to Thom
I still think that MAGATs are visceral, and the lumpen proletariat is same as it ever was...lumpen: of or relating to dispossessed and uprooted individuals cut off from the economic and social class with which they might normally be identified.
All that stuff about what the public "thinks" is based on polling that is suspicious.
Ask the unwashed whether they want a fascist government?
Whether they support someone who hates dogs?
Hey, Barbara. This substack piece from The Big Picture says "It's all about the vibes." In other words, facts don't matter if people just aren't "feeling it."
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/vibes-2024-election-trump-biden/comments
Barbara Keating, I used your link and read this piece. I'm thankful for reading it in the light of day because it's a nightmare scenario. Immediately subscribed to The Hartmann Report. Thanks for sharing.
I agree. I just wrote someone else that I am reading my online sub less and less - and that I know I need to cancel after all these years.... Not as long as you tho!
Getting rid of my NYT (king of the lamestream media) subscription only brought more joy and satisfaction into my life.
I would, but I'm addicted to the Cooking app and the Xword. Can't do without. I'm like a heroin addict.
WORDLE
I love Wordle. I don’t have any trouble still playing it after canceling my NYT subscription.
I'm addicted to Connections. Am looking for a knock-off version.
Try puzzgrid.
Oh thank you! That looks like a fun site and may be a great substitution.
There are others! Free yourself!
I am addicted to the Cooking site also........is there an alternative? Love the shrimp scampi stew.
Me too!
Sulzberger family DNA failure A.G. Sulzberger - born on third base and convinced he hit a triple - has ordered his crew of over-paid, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable trust fund babies at the world's finest fishwrap to not say anything positive about the Biden campaign until Joe comes and gives the inbred drooler the "exclusive interview" he's entitled to.
TC. Don't get me started on Trustifarians. So many have inherited hundreds of millions and do everything they can to avoid paying taxes. We are all aware of the worst offenders on the list. Of course, many of them have used their inheritance to help others, but others --not so much.
I stopped my subscription to the NYT. They have been terrible at balancing their narrative for years. I finally had enough.
Deirdre--please write to the editors of The NY Times. I was pissed off at the media's incessant use of the word chaotic to describe the withdrawal from Afghanistan. So I wrote the editor of the NYTimes and told them it was "lazy journalism". I have kept an out out for the word "chaotic" and haven't seen them use it since although it's likely some of their journalists are still using it.
As much as I comment on the 1%ers and their anti-democracy doings, I want to point out Bill and Melinda Gates as an exception. Bill has made some mistakes, but he and Melinda have tried to give away all but 5% of their fortune, as he promised decades ago, to causes that better the world. I thank them. It is so good to think about people with a soul for a change.
I believe Warren Buffet has done the same, perhaps mentoring Mr Gates toward this philanthropy.
Some years ago Warren Buffet and Bill Gates' father were publicly championing raising taxes on the very wealth, with little effect. So far as I know, Bill Gates is not sending massive donations to right wing organizations.
Yes. Buffet has committed the eventual philanthropic use of most of his wealth, but he hasn’t chosen specific projects (world health, especially, plus sustainable energy and other issues) and directed the effective use of those funds in a hands-on way like Gates has. Gates has been seriously involved in the work he is funding.
Giving money away is a very difficult job, if you want to have your money create positive outcomes. Warren Buffet gave $40B to Bill Gates to decide where to place the money. The are indeed kindred spirits.
Gonna be interesting to find out what kind of mistakes Bill made when he was buddies with Jeffrey Epstein.
Do we need to know? the shipwreck of his marriage tells us enough.
No we do not need to know. What purpose would it serve?
Thank you, Professor. How can anybody in their right mind even think about bringing that back into office. I couldn’t imagine what he would say at West Point. Of course I don’t think he would ever be invited. Please everybody share this. It’s so darn obvious that this man is evil, he cares not about the country. He wants power and he wants retribution. It’s a sick disease. Bote Blue all down the line. Again, the man is evil.
But it's still important to make clear he is a criminal, and that's what the right is trying to prevent.
He craves absolute power. The whole damn world bowing to Trump. He's not the first.
Donald Trump. Clarence Thomas. Samuel Alito. Mike Johnson.
All have contempt for our laws – all instead for billionaires’ conceits.
Trump lied on campaign finance records because he knew, after the Access Hollywood tapes, voters would be disgusted at his larger sexual predations.
Justices on the Clarence court lied as to their ongoing bribery, they above our laws as if entitled to their own sugar daddy billionaires.
Speaker of the House Johnson lies by pious treacle gilding further lies for criminals like Trump.
They could have respected our laws. Could have loved how our laws long enshrined our own personal decisions, including for family and health. But jackass “higher calling” put packaged theocracy above us and our laws. Entitlements for themselves say eff-you to our Constitution and its 14th amendment, which should protect us from even the most lying rogue rich.
What do our ogres share with Dems who went to parallel schools that for decades have also put something else unto us? Sets of abstractions instead: Poll numbers. Wall Street numbers. Dark money. University student loan succubi. Billionaire social media algorithms. Standardized testing so schools can never teach to anything but the test.
Our billionaires and their swine live totally in, for, and by abstractions. No novels, memoirs, films, histories, or music any more than can any animals.
Ultra wealthy plutocrats have supported government of the people, by the wealthy, for the wealthy, for eons. Back in the 1950s, Eisenhower disapproved of "Texas oil millionaires" that were keen to eliminate social security and other public services for less pecunious citizens. For some, too much is never enough.
Yes, J L.
You note "Back in the 1950s," but you could go back, say, 2,000 years, when a certain Nazarene kicked the money changers out of the temple. Or to Buddha, who warned of material attachments. Or to Herodotus, whose Solon corrected the most wealthy, most powerful Persian king.
I remember back in the 1960s I had great respect for the U.S. Supreme Court. I'd read biographies of many of the justices yet living, on that bench. One day I walked from South Post, Ft. Myer, to the site where I was taking my final exam in Vietnamese, concluding my year full-time, with native speakers, learning that language.
I stopped at the court building, across from the Capitol, just as a nod of respect. Walked up the steps. Saw a guard at a curtain on the far side of the lobby. He gestured to me. I was in uniform -- knew I'd done nothing wrong, nothing but enter the building. And as I approached him, he stepped and pulled the curtain aside -- and there they all were. William O. Douglas. Hugo Black. Thurgood Marshall. And the others, all in public session.
In recent years I've come to see even more how we rely on good laws, and good adherence to them. But, too, J L, I've come to see we rely on our public schools, K-12 across the land as well as on all those public colleges and universities originally constituted by the Justin Morrill land grant legislation of 1862 -- that we rely on them to be centered on our humanities every bit as much as we do on our laws for freedoms and for a decent, healthy public domain.
The truth is, the Supreme Court most of us respect - the Warren Court - was a historical fluke. Through most of its history, the court has been more like the collection of dweebs and dildos we have now. Eisenhower said his biggest mistake as President was thinking that Earl Warren was still a conservative when he appointed him chief justice.
Not the first time I've heard this assessment, nor about Eisenhower's regret at appointing Warren. It is, however, the first time I have heard that alliterative description of prior (and subsequent) courts; I suspect you could add "dolts" or "dunces" to that already descriptive alliteration.
Jesus preached kindly asceticism, yet "fundamentalists" conflate Jesus with the embodiment of self-indulgence and cruelty that is Trump.
You often mention the humanities, and I am with you. Like my daughter's college (now bankrupt) my college gave equal weight to humanities and science, and taught philosophy as well. At my school, a continuation of the Hutchins' University of Chicago "Great Books" plan (in an effort to preserve it) every course sequence began with readings for ancient Greece, and selected "seminal" (Western) authors considered influential to the present day; giants upon whose shoulders we now stand. The idea not to worship these personalities (who, for all their fortes and foibles, left positive accomplishments) but to attempt to apply and advance insights they bequeathed; a skill ignored by "teaching to the test".
Each of us finds ourselves forcefully ejected from the predictable and peaceful world of the womb, compelled to deal with physical realities. For us, those realities are experiential as well as physical, and it is the experiential that makes us sentient beings, even as the physical makes this possible. "Rosy fingered dawn", enabled by fusion, photons, and neurons. Biology and the taste, the actual sensory experience, of honey. The gut level experience of laughter and pain. We won the jackpot to wake up in a dangerous and supportive world. replete with surprises, nuance and endless connections and our ways to appreciate them. Education, exploratory, experiential, and pedagogical, extends and clarifies our sphere of awareness, literally expands and enriches our personal universe; or at least has that potential.
I think of the humanities as communicative exploration and sharing of our human experiences, that is the sensuality of being human, even in the form of sometimes puzzling abstractions. All living things draw sustenance ad have other needs, but food can be an artform, speech and tone can be an artform, sexuality can be an artform, obviously the visual, arts, and even movement, or an object lain this way or that, can be an artform. Even aromas.
I think AND feel, therefore I am. We posses thought and sensuality as great gifts "on loan". Why would we not attempt to explore them as fully as we can and dare, and make our world safe enough, and supportive to enable and maximize that process? For ourselves and our posterity?
One more thing:
Congratulations on learning Vietnamese and to you and the other man in uninform that shared that treasure. I recall taking my daughter to see Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. A volunteer docent, who led a tour, was very well informed and candid about contradictions baked into our nation's founding, but reverent and thankful for the Constitution that assemblage produced. The Constitution has good bones, and even a repair mechanism, but it is only as just and as strong what we the living draw from it.
“[F]reedom has never been guaranteed,” Biden said. “Every generation has to earn it; fight for it; defend it in battle between autocracy and democracy, between the greed of a few and the rights of many…. And just as our fallen heroes have kept the ultimate faith with our country and our democracy, we must keep faith with them,” he said.
So much good wisdom in your comment here, J L.
As well as in your appendix note to it.
I like best the little aside you slip in about being born, "forcefully ejected from the predictable and peaceful world of the womb, compelled to deal with physical realities."
That's the beginning of our humanity, our human selves. It doesn't come automatically with our fusion into a fetus. Our humanity, and that of all others, comes comprised with the pain, the shock of not anymore being just passive, just belonging to some place, some group, some sets of givens. We have to wake up. We have to choose. We have to see that fellow others have those complications, those challenges also to deal with.
What are they, for those fellow others?
Having to see that, keeping that obligation honestly upon us -- that, J L empowers, vitalizes all those humanities that our simple-minded and dishonest vulgar aim to avoid.
Respecting what humanity means also obliges us to respect what birth means, as all those theocrats can never understand.
Beautiful rant. “Packaged theocracy” and “set of abstractions.” These autocratic weapons sound weak, but democracy itself is an abstraction, too, that only works if laws are enacted in good faith, embodying the will of the majority. Too many bad faith workarounds (e.g., gerrymandering, filibustering, shadow docket, etc.). Ultimately, it’s “all about the Benjamins,” a truth for our time.
No, Maureen.
I have enough experience with people across America, and across the world, and with similar, fitting humanities, only to sorrow at your "all about the Benjamins."
My comment about corruption is not a reflection on humanity as a whole, but about those in the minority who would manipulate the majority with legal but dubious workarounds to maintain financial and political power.
Interesting and inspiring that two of the biggest philanthropists in this country are women, Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scott. In the meantime, what are Elon Musk and one Donald J. Trump, both billionaires, doing to further the human condition? Zip. Nadal. Nothing.
Elmo may get people to hate cars if he keeps producing things like his Rejected By Furiosa "pick'm up truck" -Uuuuuuuuggggggglllleeeeeeeeeee!!!!
And THIS is the subhuman that the Republicans support for another term as POTUS. It is incomprehensible that our country and democracy mean nothing to them, that they would deny freedom of choice and individual rights to women, people of color, and non-binary people.
"Trump appeared angry, and on Sunday, as Greg Sargent reported in The New Republic, he reposted a video of a man raging at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. In it, the man says that when Trump is reelected: “He’ll get rid of all you f*cking liberals. You liberals are gone when he f*cking wins. You f*cking blowjob liberals are done. Uncle Donnie’s gonna take this election—landslide. Landslide, you f*cking half a blowjob. Landslide. Get the f*ck out of here, you scumbag.”
Trump’s elevation of this video, Sargent notes, is a dangerous escalation of his already violent rhetoric, and yet it has gotten very little media attention."
it's only comprehensible as some kind of strange abhorrent yet present in the dark recesses of sick minds and hearts... maybe the question is why are they that sick? or maybe it's how are they that sick?
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
It is still possible, as low as he has shown himself to be, to go lower. He has no bottom. God help us! He liberates the darkest recesses of the disabled human heart. They love him unconditionally.
President Biden said, "women and men." He is the first politician I have heard in my 64yrs put women first. Why spokespeople asked to describe Mr. Trump do not use the word "psychopath" is confusing to me. The video Mr. Trump posted is highly characteristic of the psychopath's groomed sycophant. The sycophant does not initiate but dog whistles and motivates others into actions most often described as sadism. Mr. Trump is dog whistling for those who are criminals, white supremacists and sadists to move to the front from where they have been hiding in plain sight. Cody Roberts and his sadistic and highly public behavior is an excellent example.
From Healthline:
The term sociopath refers to someone living with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) — as does the term psychopath.
The most recent edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5-TR), which mental health professionals use to diagnose mental health conditions, defines ASPD as a consistent disregard for rules and social norms and repeated violation of other people’s rights.
People with the condition might seem charming and charismatic at first, at least on the surface, but they generally find it difficult to understand other people’s feelings. They often:
break rules or laws
behave aggressively or impulsively
feel little guilt for harm they cause others
use manipulation, deceit, and controlling behavior
(...)
There’s no standard list of sociopath signs, but the signs and symptoms of ASPD include a persistent pattern of disregard for others. For example:
ignoring social norms and laws, breaking rules at school or work, overstepping social boundaries, stealing, stalking and harassing others, or destroying property
dishonesty and deceit, including using false identities and manipulating others for personal gain
difficulty controlling impulses and planning for the future, or acting without considering the consequences
aggressive or aggravated behavior, including frequent fights or physical conflict with others
disregard for personal safety, or the safety of others
difficulty managing responsibilities, including showing up at work, handling tasks, or paying rent and bills
little to no guilt or remorse, or a tendency to justify actions that negatively affect others
People with ASPD generally show little emotion or interest in the lives of others. They might:
come across as arrogant or superior, with firmly fixed opinions
use humor, intelligence, and charisma to manipulate
seem charming at first until their self-interest becomes clear
People with ASPD generally find it challenging to maintain friendships, relationships, and other mutually fulfilling connections. This difficulty may stem from traits, like:
low empathy and emotional intelligence
difficulty learning from mistakes
lack of concern for the safety of others
a tendency to intimidate and threaten in order to maintain control
What is missing in the Healthline description is the component of sadism which is rarely discussed outside of LE and the judicial system. Figliuzzi's book Long Haul documents the application of the diagnosis .
I am so tired of seeing TFG's name in the news. All the horrible things that he says and posts covered constantly while news of Biden's accomplishments gets pushed aside. I firmly believe that the media needs to stop covering TFG's every move and slander and start covering the good news of the current administration.
I am really pleased that Biden's campaign spokesperson showed up and had the opportunity to explain why he was there - great job. I hope the news people pay attention, deep attention to what he said.
Biden's commencement speech at West Point was beautiful, inspiring and appropriate. Other than HCR's coverage of it I saw/heard very little about it. His Memorial Day speech echoed the West Point speech and, again, no coverage other than HCR.
Those of us that read Letters from an American already know that TFG is a horrible person who should never hold public office again. Most, if not all of the people who watch CNN and MSNBC feel the same way. We need good news to share, the story needs to be turned around.
Penny, may I suggest this SubStack: What Did Joe Biden Do Today….gives a daily dose of what is REALLY going on in the Biden//Harris Admin—stuff that the MSM often doesn’t carry: https://whatdidbidendotoday.substack.com/
You beat me to it — thank you for spreading the word about https://whatdidbidendotoday.substack.com/
"Each one bound by common commitment—not to a place, not to a person, not to a President, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history: the idea of the United States of America.”
Brings back:
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” - Gen. Mark Milley
I highly recommend listening to Ken Burns Commencement speech. It is extraordinary.
https://youtu.be/9n1OqPzIKH4?si=OhfaTV4KLofzPRzq
Excellent interview with him on Nicole Wallace’s Deadline Whitehouse show on MSNBC today…she commended him for stepping up and setting aside his political neutrality from a historian’s perspective during these fraught times. His perspective as a historian made his making an exception to this long-held stance even more profound. I hope this link works: https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/ken-burns-there-is-no-real-choice-this-november-211791941577 He also mentioned a PBS-based site that has links to his work…I ended up bookmarking it: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/unum/
Thank you for the links Barbara. I love his work.
It was a great speech. Historians of the country unite!
Yes! Listen and share repeatedly!
Done and done.
Karen, I especially loved the part in his speech about the derivation of the word "enthusiasm" coming from roots meaning "God in us!"
thank you ! yes, truly extraordinary
Thanks for the link!
Over the holiday weekend I, several times, considered those who, in Lincoln’s words “gave the last full measure of devotion” and wondered how they would react to the present circumstances in the country.
It also seems fairly evident that the founders, in debating the constitution, could never have considered a time when the perfect storm of dishonorable persons would inhabit every level of government.
We have let our guard down. It is not too late but we need to correct it…now!
cFM, great to remind us of Lincoln's eloquent words. But Founders not only considered such a 'perfect storm of dishonorable' people would arrive, they lived in an era with as many of them of them then we have now and designed our government accordingly. (Benedict Arnold, other British sympathizers, etc.). Instead I think they would say 'WTF, how can you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory' you idiots! Remember: Thomas Jefferson drew up, clandestinely, articles of succession for Virginia and tried to convince Washington that Hamilton (who viewed George as a father) was plotting a coup to install a British royal on a throne in America.
Anyone care to share their favorite books written about this period? I think of McCullough's "1776".
For me, the highlight may seem trivial, but it is this: "When Robert Costa of CBS News asked campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler why they had shown up at the trial, Tyler answered: “Because you all are here. You’ve been incessantly covering this day in and day out, and we want to remind the American people ahead of the…first debate on June 27 of the unique, persistent, and growing threat that Donald Trump poses to the American people and to our democracy. So since you all are here, we’re here communicating that message."
Bravo to DeNiro and Tyler, and I hope this represents more speaking truth to media in the future.
Juxtaposed on the staggering imbalance in coverage of Hillary Clinton's remarks, and the omission of the rest of her comments in that reporting, two things are clear:
1. As a whole and with few exceptions, news and pseudo-news outlets share a large part of the blame for the illusion of Trump's popularity.
2. Because they have fostered that illusion, they also share a large part of the blame for leading people who feel shut out of American prosperity to believe that if they follow Trump, they actually are, for once, in the mainstream.
How does that work? The reasons people turn to crime is summarized in sociological literature as "redefining the desirable." In other words, when more peaceful or legitimate avenues of security and belonging are perceived as not available, people will find deviant behavior more desirable if it gives them belonging or identity with a group. Examples are gang initiations of murder or robbery that lead to admission to a group that has their back. Such actions also draw on the pent up emotion and frustration, which is then further supported by the shared dislike of anything that supports "the establishment" and further crime to keep group adhesion high. Until caught, they also gain a sense of superiority in "getting over."
I don't need to point out how Trump has used this technique, or how he was able to convince the rioters to storm the capitol, the parents to allow their teenage son to go to another city and shoot protesters, or even, sadly enough, to convince legislative leaders and some neurotic wanna-be leaders to ignore their solemn oath to govern and uphold the Constitution.
Bottom line for the campaign and those who support it: Get the show on the road. Show up where the media shows up. (Yes, it will likely be dangerous in some cases.) Seek out the beat reporter, not just interviews with well-coifed anchors in cushy offices. Be on the streets, shadow the rallies and find a reporter in that town to talk with about what's really at stake. Use street language. Get the word out.
I was astonished to see the statistics regarding that "staggering imbalance." I'd always felt that the negative coverage was wildly overdone, but Dr. Richardson provides the numbers to back it up. It got to the point where "Benghaaaazi!' and "but her emails...!" became internet memes. The tragedy is that internet snark did not translate to votes. The Trump stain on our national psyche, national interest, and national honor remains almost indelible.
Let's not let it be terminal.
Campaign strategy for electoral votes, not the popular vote which went to Clinton, made the difference, along with Comey's self-righteousness which made him a pawn.
KEM, Agreed that DeNiro and Tyler took the first clever steps to emerging from the Republicans' "silent majority" of yore to becoming something more than the quiet majority!
It is amazing that Trump is alive and walking freely on our streets protected by an armed guard we pay for. It is shameful and an international embarrassment that he has NOT been charged with his most serious crime when over 1,000 of his legions have been convicted and are sentenced up to 22 years. Between the failure to prosecute AND the atrocious delays and decisions by SCOTUS AND JUDGE CANON, it is no wonder the any respect for our legal system is fading away.
Thank you, Prof.Richardson, for putting these events in perspective. I read several other progressive bloggers today and they were so focused on the forces against President Biden’s re-election that I felt overwhelmed.
But I also decided that I and other activists can’t let that torrent of fear overcome us. If necessary, I must tune out all of the fear and warnings and do what I can do to get out the vote. I and others like me have to write postcards, knock on doors, post social media ads and do the other groundwork to win a Democratic trifecta and defeat MAGA from the top to the bottom of the ticket.
Absolutely! We need to all keep working for President Biden and other Dems to crush MAGA under the biggest landslide in history! And with that, I’m back to postcard writing.
Me, too, and I enlisted two more writers to help me.
Thank You.
Copy and paste Ken Burns’s speech on the pages of those bloggers.